This invention relates generally to safety apparatus and more particularly to a system for securement to structural components of a building to protect workers from falling and to expedite the construction or renovation of the building.
Due to the enactment of various safety laws, persons working at elevated positions, e.g., on steel construction beams of a building as it is erected, etc., are required to be protected against falls. One common approach to achieve that end is the use of a safety belt which is worn on the worker's waist. The belt includes a D-ring or some other metal loop fixedly mounted on the belt in the center of the portion located at the worker's back. The D-ring is arranged to be "tied off" (connected), via a lanyard, to a fixed supporting member or anchor point. The anchor point may be any fixed portion, e.g. an I-beam, of the building which is strong enough to support the worker's weight. The securement of the lanyard to the anchor point is typically accomplished by wrapping the lanyard at least once about the anchor point, e.g., I-beam. Thus, once the worker is tied off should he/she fall off of the structure he/she will be prevented from falling to the ground.
While this technique of preventing falls is generally suitable for its intended purposes it never the less suffers from some drawbacks. For example, it limits or restricts the movement of the worker to a small working area contiguous with the anchor point, and does not provide adequate protection to the worker when he/she is in the process of moving to a different location, e.g., adjacent another anchor point.